In some sense this deal represents a logical pinnacle of a trend that has been going on for the past five or so years. While some have referred to this trend as the “death” of talent management, I prefer to look at it as the birth of a new era for humans and the organizations they call home.

No matter how you feel about it, this deal is about data and the ability to apply it to HR and organizational performance. The combined IBM/Kenexa organization will blend IBM’s capabilities with data with Kenexa’s ability to harvest data across HR functions using a mature set of tools such as ATS, surveys, and assessments, while helping IBM gain additional competency in the measurement of human traits that are important for defining, evaluating, and managing performance within the workplace.

The ability to provide sound measurement of the human elements that are required for effective job and organizational performance is a critical supplement to the type of raw empirical data IBM is used to working with. As we move forward, the real value in HR systems will not be in simply ballistic (unguided) data crunching, but rather in blending it with rationally guided measurement captured and managed within HR software and systems.

It will likely take a few years before we the consumer see any direct impact of this deal. In the here and now, it has meaning because it shows that pre-employment assessment has finally hit the big time and is poised to become the visible face of three major trends that are shaping the future of how people relate to work and vice versa.

Assessment becoming a part of enterprise level solutions that leverage big data. All of the major deals between enterprise and HR software companies that have occurred in the last couple of years are geared toward the creation of solutions that blend big data and software to help organizations optimize processes involving humans across the enterprise. Testing and assessment will be just one of the ingredients that are folded into these overall solutions.

Assessment plays an essential role because it provides a methodology that supplies sound measurement and understanding of human traits. This information provides a solid foundation for software-driven analytics and has no real equal when it comes to this role. I don’t believe that big data and artificial intelligence will be able to replace sound psychologically based measurement methods anytime soon. However, blending this type of data with all the other streams of data available for capture (both within and outside of HR systems) will provide raw material for new levels of insight and analysis well beyond what either could provide on its own.

“Directing traffic.” This is the term I use for a whole class of tools that are currently under development in secret skunkworks around the globe. In the next 12 to 24 months we can expect to see a bumper crop of new companies seeking to help organizations find and engage talent in the new ways. These tools will fulfill the core function of a job board, (i.e., helping people find jobs and vice versa), but will do so a whole new set of intelligence that moves well past the keyword searching and crude parsing and matching that we seen up to this point.

These tools blend advanced matching technology and artificial intelligence with quality psychometric measurement to create systems that will work above the hiring funnel to help route people to jobs for which there best suited. This intelligent matching process will help organizations fill their hiring funnels with individuals based on data that is not easily understood from just a resume or keyword. This adds both efficiency and effectiveness to what is currently a very broken part of the hiring process and one that is responsible for a good deal of the waste currently associated with it.

I’ve seen a wide variety of such tools that are currently in the works, and while there is a good deal of variety in how they go about executing the basic task of matching people with jobs, all of these systems use solid psychometric data as one part of their matching process. Beyond the quality of the data used to make matches, factors that will help define success in this space inclued the ability to collect post-hire data to help optimize decision making, and integration with social networks.

Gamification. Gamification is as an undeniable trend that is changing the way that people interact with technology across all walks of life. The user experience is beginning to drive consumer behavior and is pushing all industries to new frontiers. The next generation entering the workforce will begin to expect an easy-to-access, pleasant, and entertaining user experience in everything they do.

Jobs will be no exception. Gamification is penetrating the world of recruitment and hiring in the form of brand gaming and other interactive brand exercises. Games have not yet entered into the formalized world of pre-employment assessment or performance management (beyond their use in as training tools). I expect that within the next five years we will see an increasing gamification of assessments that goes beyond current simulation technologies. There are a variety of technical challenges that must be overcome here, and I expect the earliest examples to be simple. Each passing day moves us further away from the use of radio buttons found within a rigid process to collect user data from job seekers and employees.

Here are my thoughts about how these three trends will work together to create the future for how companies find, engage, hire, and develop their employees.

The rise of “embedded assessments”: A common element of these three trends is that they embed measurement as one of many components that together create a whole that is bigger then just a data collection tool. The movement is toward the actual assessment process becoming seamlessly integrated into a bigger user experience that is more focused on the achievement of specific goals (i.e., finding a job, career networking). But don’t expect the traditional funnel-bound testing paradigm to completely disappear; rather, expect the wrapper to begin to look different.

Complimentary components: What excites me most about these trends is that they are entirely complementary to one another. It begins with the way that companies identify and engage potential applicants, using engaging top of the funnel systems to remove a good bit of the noise from the sourcing process. Once applicants opt in, more traditional data can be collected within the formal hiring process proper using the basic substance of an employment test couched within a more appealing user experience. Once a person is hired, the data they have provided during the hiring process will become part of feedback loops that help determine the impact of decisions and allow companies to better manage individuals and the enterprise. Finally, data captured will be aggregated to provide benchmarks for external comparison and analysis.

Power to the people: The balance of power in the job search realm is starting to shift. Traditionally, finding a job is a thankless black hole of a process that leaves the individual job seeker feeling devalued and powerless The larger trend of social connectivity and sharing of information has begun to create a force for change in this area. Many of the ideas in gestation at the current time seek to make job searching a consumer-driven activity in which firms that provide broken process and black holes are called out in a way that impacts their ability to engage talent. We will see an increase in the treatment of job seekers as consumers and this will be driven by pressure created by the collective mass of job seekers who have been empowered and engaged with new sets of tools.

Don’t forget that the core of all of the complementary new directions I have discussed are a blend of solid psychological trait-based measurement with exciting new technologies. This is exactly the path being blazed by well-respected names such as IBM. IBM’s throwing its hat in the ring lends credence to the importance of data-based, intelligent HR technology systems for transforming all organizational functions, especially talent acquisition.

I must constantly defend myself against the idea that machines decide peoples fate. It all depends on the situation in my book. High volume recruiting is very hard to do and automated tools make it much much easier. So, for those applications automated assessments make a ton of sense. Beyond this, my belief is to put quality information about each candidate into the hands of expert decision makers (i.e., hiring professionals). While automated scoring may help provide meaningful data, it takes experts to look at this info along with other data to make a final decision.

Anyway, like it or not these algorithms are here to stay and will only become more prominent. Why? because they work and can save companies millions. The caution is to know when to use them and how.

http://www.talenttech.com Praj Patel

Thought-provoking article Charles. As a vendor in this space, we’re constantly looking at (and being asked by customers) ways that some of the trends you’ve referred to can be applied to drive the “right” people into the recruiting funnel. I agree there will be lots of innovation which will manifest into products over the next few years.

Keith Halperin

Thank you Dr. Handler.”"ower to the people: The balance of power in the job search realm is starting to shift. Traditionally, finding a job is a thankless black hole of a process that leaves the individual job seeker feeling devalued and powerless The larger trend of social connectivity and sharing of information has begun to create a force for change in this area. Many of the ideas in gestation at the current time seek to make job searching a consumer-driven activity in which firms that provide broken process and black holes are called out in a way that impacts their ability to engage talent. We will see an increase in the treatment of job seekers as consumers and this will be driven by pressure created by the collective mass of job seekers who have been empowered and engaged with new sets of tools.”

Unless you’re part of the “Fabulous 5%” or have an in-demand skill, I just don’t see this as happening. When is the last time the VP of Staffing at an employer-of-choice was fired for overseeing a grossly dysfunctional hiring process that disheartened, depressed, or annoyed the 50-100 people who weren’t hired for every one that was? As long as we have high-un/underemployment, the vast majority of job-seekers can be treated like dirt, and if they don’t like it, there are plenty more much better than they are who WILL like it (or at least TAKE it).

No Cheers,

Keith

http://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelvangel Michael Vangel

Thank you Dr. Handler for sharing a thought provoking article.

It’s a very exciting time as we see Talent Acquisition strive to meet in an integrated way with Talent Management and then integrating it with an even more meaningful tie-in to Organizational Performance and Development that provides a direct correlation to a company’s bottom-line.

As we see this convergence and consolidation take place I end up asking myself some very basic questions.

While each of these major organizations have selected those companies they believe are “best in breed”, will they actually all be able to perform as effectively on one base platform as they had individually? Will the sum really be greater than its parts? Or will the combined solution be watered down in order to have their disparate systems integrated?

Will the offering they provide to employers be modular (a la carte) or will you have to purchase the entire end-to-end solution? Seems like it will be very expensive if that is the case.

How long will it take to bring this converged product to market? One year? Five years? Somewhere in-between? Longer?

Is there a place for small-to-medium sized businesses in all of this? Or have they been priced out?

Will the candidate experience be made more engaging, authentic, and personal through this convergence of automation or will it become more machine driven?

Is gamification over-rated? At the very least I think the term has now been greatly over-used. I attended a recent conference, mRec, a week ago where the inside joke on the Twitter stream was “Every time someone says the word ‘gamification’ a unicorn dies”. Perhaps, the focus should be leveraging technology tools to have a more meaningful and efficient conversation between candidate and employer that develops a productive relationship rather than a machine driven process such as a game (at least within the context of engagement)?

Thanks again for your article. I guess everything that rises must converge.

Mike

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About the author

Dr. Charles Handler is a thought leader, analyst, and practitioner in the talent assessment and human capital space. Throughout his career Dr. Handler has specialized in developing effective, legally defensible employee selection systems. Since 2001 Dr. Handler has served as the president and founder of Rocket-Hire, a vendor neutral consultancy dedicated to creating and driving innovation in talent assessment. Dr. Handler has helped companies such as Intuit, Wells Fargo, KPMG, Scotia Bank, Hilton Worldwide, and Humana to design, implement, and measure impactful employee selection processes. Through his prolific writing for media outlets such as ERE.net, his work as a pre-hire assessment analyst for Bersin by Deloitte, and worldwide public speaking, Dr. Handler is a highly visible futurist and evangelist for the talent assessment space. Throughout his career, Dr. Handler has been on the forefront of innovation in the talent assessment space, applying his sound foundation in psychometrics to helping drive innovation in assessments through the use of gaming, social media, big data, and other advanced technologies. Dr. Handler holds a M.S. and Ph.D. in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from Louisiana State University.